Even as competitiveness is often considered the key to bettering the quality of education in the country, experts believe that there has been a lapse in creating a level playing field. This, because institutes have refrained from participating in the national level accreditation which gauges institutes on various parameters for quality of education. Adding insult to injury, just one out of eight colleges in Karnataka and Kerala have come onboard the NAAC accreditation which is conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
This is due to a large number of higher education institutes failing to come onboard the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation process, which assesses the quality of education of colleges and universities in the country. Of over 800 colleges in the South Western Region of the University Grants Commission, which includes Karnataka and Kerala, just 100 odd institutes have NAAC accreditation, an official from the office of the University Grants Commission told.
Some institutes have refused to be graded at all, while others take part in private surveys for quality of education, said the official. However, the region has poor participation of educational institutions in the NAAC survey. This also puts students in distress as funds under several government schemes are granted to students in only accredited institutions.
Dr S Chandrashekar Shetty, former Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, said that hardly 10 per cent of health science institutes have undergone the assessment and accreditation under NAAC, which is quality assurance, enhancement and sustenance measures. Talking about the roadblocks to better quality higher education, he said that the basic challenge is that the entire higher education framework is not under one command in the country.
Prof Kevin Ibeh, pro-vice-master (international), professor of marketing and international business, in a round table policy dialogue for Karnataka higher education institutes, organised in association with the British Council, said, "The National Student Survey in the United Kingdom keeps all institutes on their toes, as the results are published for public perusal and is an embarrassment to go down the ranks. If certain aspects are not favourable, it compels us to pay attention to it.”
